Nokia may be preparing to kick off a monstrous advertising blitz alongside the launch of its first round of Windows Phones, UK-based Marketing Magazine reports. The advertising campaign, which will apparently kick off in October when Nokia finally begins pushing out Microsoft-powered smartphones, is reportedly valued at just under $130 million. The new global campaign will seemingly be a rebranding mission of sorts, and will reportedly run for six months. Nokia has a steep climb ahead as it attempts to slow its bleeding market share while simultaneously attempting to get customers on board with a fledgling Windows Phone operating system that has not been well received thus far. Despite our love of the platform here at BGR, Microsoft’s share of the U.S. smartphone market has dropped by 35% since Windows Phone first launched in November, and International sales have been lackluster so far according to reports. Looking past its slow start, however, some analysts believe Windows Phone will quickly become one of the most popular mobile operating systems in the world. Pyramid Research, for example, believes Nokia will help propel Windows Phone sales faster than even Android saw during its rapid ascent to the No. 1 spot. Pyramid expects global Windows Phone sales to top Android in 2013. More →

Apple has surpassed Google as world’s most valuable brand, according to advertising firm WPP’s “BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” study. Apple’s brand value has ballooned 859% since 2006, and increased 84% to $153.3 billion this year. Tech companies dominate the rankings: AT&T, China Mobile, IBM, and Microsoft all have spots in the top-10 most valuable brands list, and McDonald’s is the only non-tech brand in the top-5. Google had reigned supreme for the past four years before being displaced by Apple, and Amazon surpassed Walmart to become the No. 1 retailer. Hit the jump for the full report from WPP.

Nokia has replaced its famous Nokia Sans font with a new “Nokia Pure” typeface as part of its effort to re-brand itself. Nokia said on its blog that the “the letters [of the new font] flow into each other somewhat, creating the impression of forward movement.” The new typeface will be used throughout the user interface — in areas such as the user menu and dial pad — on future Nokia phones, although Nokia hasn’t provided official shots of it in use, just renders. It’s also unclear if Nokia will carry the new font over to its Windows Phone 7 devices, although we assume that it will. Nokia says to keep an eye out for the new typeface in its branding campaigns on billboards and on new devices in 2011. More →

Who would have ever thought getting a Zune tattoo might be a bad idea? Microsoft is killing Zune, reports Windows watcher Paul Thurrott. Not the services, of course — they’ll live on in some way, shape or form. But the Zune brand and logo are not long for this world, Thurrott claims. The Microsoft expert thinks the brand will be phased out over a period of time, with the related services possibly rolling into the Windows Live brand, and he says the process has already begun. When confronted with this rumor, Microsoft’s response was anything but a denial: “We’re not ‘killing’ any of the Zune services/features in any way. Microsoft remains committed to providing a great music and video experience from Zune on platforms such as Xbox LIVE, Windows-based PCs, Zune devices and Windows Phone 7, as well as integration with Bing and MSN.” More →

AT&T’s reputation has been dragged through the mud these past few years in no small part to its network issues, so it comes as little surprise that the company is all set to go through with a major rebranding effort. Based around the slogan “Rethink Possible” (Think Different much?), AT&T will position itself not as a communications giant but as purveyor of a progressive and innovative lifestyle. AT&T’s “Death Star” logo will remain, although the lowercase “at&t” will be dropped, while the overwhelming orange motif that assaults one’s senses will be discarded in favor of a wider spectrum of colors. The entire rebranding process will take a considerable amount of time given the sheer scope of the task, but let’s hope Luke Wilson’s reign of terror will be one of the first things to go. More →

But U2 doesn’t love BlackBerry, nor give a shit about them. That’s the feeling I get after attending the kick-off concert for U2’s 360 U.S. tour. What’s incredible is that after thinking about this strange and odd pairing of two corporate brands, it makes less sense than I even previously thought. For starters, it’s a pretty large investment to be the title and only sponsor for a huge national or worldwide tour — major money. If we had to guess we’d say RIM paid a minimum of $7M and a maximum of $15M. What’s so unsettling is how disconnected RIM was from the event. Sure, there were a couple banners strewn about Soldier Field, but no one noticed. And the folks that did notice didn’t care. Instead of using this opportunity to push their brand forward, it almost seems like just a second thought to throw some quick marketing dollars to try act like your company is doing something in the consumer and “cool” department.

Interesting, very interesting. We are all familiar with the branding nightmare that is Nokia’s higher-end line of phones. Eseries for business, Nseries for fun — but even fanboy blogs seem to have a tough time remembering how to spell the brands. E-series, N Series, E-Series, n series and so on. These lines have been around for long enough however, that Nokia is basically stuck with them at this point. As a matter of fact, it may even be expanding. By way of the Finnish blog Puhelinvertailu, it looks like Nokia filed a trademark application for “Cseries” back in April of this year. The new series, assuming Nokia does in fact get the trademark and make use of this new branding, could be for a number of things. We could see some of Nokia’s numbered phones, maybe the Symbian-powered models, move over to Cseries. Or perhaps we’ll see an entirely new line of Maemo devices bearing the Cseries name; we never did understand why Nokia slapped an “N” on its last two tablets. Speculation aside for the time being, the “E” in “Eseries” stands for Enterprise and the “N” in “Nseries” stand for, umm, eNtertainment? Not enterprise? Nokia? Whatever — the question here is what will the “C” in “Cseries” stand for if Nokia does in fact bring it to market?

When it comes to branding, marketing, advertising, PR and the general concepts surrounding efforts to sell stuff, Apple is one of the best in the business — hands down. Love Apple products or hate them, there’s really no question it knows how design an attractive product and make it even more attractive using marcom. As such, the company is always meticulous with the messages it delivers, the wording it chooses and the quality of its marketing/advertising — well, almost always.